Worksop: Church members honoured for 150 years of combined service

Four members of Worksop Spiritualist Church have been honoured by the Spiritualists’ National Union for their dedication to the church and the community.

Florence Ward, president, along with Brian Newbolt, secretary and treasurer, and his wife, Ena Newbolt, who organises catering duties and flowers, have each been awarded the union’s 25 years’ long service award for their work running the church and serving the congregation for more than a quarter of a century.

Les Driver, vice-president, has also been awarded the SNU’s gold award for 50 years’ service to the Spiritualist movement.

Florence has attended the church since she was a young girl, with her mother, Elizabeth, who was one of the founding members in 1952.

Brian and Ena have served as Spiritualist healers at the church for many years and Florence is a practicing Spiritualist medium.

She said: “I am thrilled to be honoured with this special award.

“Les, Ena, Brian and I have been at the church for such a long time, it’s almost like a family to us.

“We are delighted at how the church continues to grow.

“We hope to continue our work at the church for many more years to come.

“We would welcome anyone interested in finding out more about Spiritualism to come along to the church – we are a friendly bunch.”

David Bruton, president of the Spiritualists’ National Union, said: “As the organisation responsible for more than 340 SNU churches around the UK, we are delighted to be able to acknowledge the hard work carried out at churches across the UK.

“In this case Florence, Brian, Ena and Les’ dedication to the church couldn’t go unnoticed.”